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View Poll Results: What Type Of Suspension Do You Use To Tie To Trees (you can make multiple choices)?

A lot of older threads get dug up to the top when new members come along and don't differentiate new from old by looking at the 'last post date'.

I suggest that formal polls should be given a 'time to live' window, and are closed after a certain number of days (or weeks). Then 'fresh' polls could be taken at different times to guage changes in trends. JMO.

“I think that when the lies are all told and forgot the truth will be there yet. It dont move about from place to place and it dont change from time to time. You cant corrupt it any more than you can salt salt.” - Cormac McCarthy

I kind of like the fact that some of the old ones get dug-up. If you're going to set a 'time to live' parameter, maybe it should be limited to polls. Otherwise we risk losing valuable input that may have been learned since the original thread was forgotten.

I kind of like the fact that some of the old ones get dug-up. If you're going to set a 'time to live' parameter, maybe it should be limited to polls. Otherwise we risk losing valuable input that may have been learned since the original thread was forgotten.

Just a thought.

Oh, I agree that it should be limited to polls. And I don't think they should be deleted, just closed from new posting.

But, it's not up to me. Just a suggestion.

“I think that when the lies are all told and forgot the truth will be there yet. It dont move about from place to place and it dont change from time to time. You cant corrupt it any more than you can salt salt.” - Cormac McCarthy

I'd always heard that knot called a 'loggers hitch', used to tie off to a felled tree or log for dragging with a truck or tractor. Interesting to know that it has a different, official, name.

Thanks for the link, I've not seen this one before. It grabs smooth surfaces which means it could be a good way to attach the ends of a hiking pole to rings or grommets to make a spreader bar in the bridge hammock.
I'd tried the timber hitch before, but it didn't work too well. The key I found was to have 2 points of contact at an end, which is one of the things that seems to make the icicle hitch go.

Were you able to glean any useful info from your arborist-lurking? Are we hammockers doing damage to the trees by their estimation?

No, I couldn't figure it out from lurking around. Either I wasn't looking in the right places or I didn't have the underlying technical knowledge to understand what was being discussed-- or maybe a combination of both. I never outright asked the question online.

However, at the risk of drifting this thread in a completely different direction, I did get a chance to ask an arborist who was working on the trees in a local park once. He told me he didn't think a hammock hung from a tree by 1" webbing or even by wider diameter rope (I didn't think to ask what he meant by "wider" until after I left) would do any significant damage to an otherwise healthy tree-- provided there wasn't a lot of motion in the hammock causing the lines to cut into the bark and provided that the hammock wasn't continually hung from the same trees for weeks on end. He advised me to look for healthy and mature (but not old) trees. Again, I didn't think to get any clarification on what he meant by mature but not old until after I left. I got the impression from him that a hammock is going to have some impact on a tree no matter what you do, but if you're careful, there should be no permanent or significant damage. According to him, trees can be pretty resilient. Hope that helps.

There was a discussion/argument about this exact thing over at Trailplace before it was closed. Apparently WF didn't think too much of hammocks.

Anyhow, some arborist picked a fight with him and gave a ton of data that said exactly what Nails posted; Basically, a healthy tree with one or two nights hanging is NOT going to be an issue. The use of ropes for suspension changed some of his theories, but even then he said a single night would not do any long term damage. The problems would develop if the same tree is used by hangers for several nights in a row. The concern at the time was if too many folks convert to hammocks then the powers that be might write some new rules restricting the use of hammocks. To me, this just reinforces the idea of stealth camping instead of sleeping next to the shelters.

Anyhow, the thread turned into a "who's right about LNT" fight; I got bored and ignored it. May of actually been one of my last visits to the site.